Need Creative Ideas

[Christina]

Hello everyone! This is my first post and I am a new rabbit owner.

I have 11 adopted guinea pigs. Someone in my area must have noticed me with the piggies outside and suspected that I would be a good home for their unwanted rabbit. Needless to say, said rabbit was found in a box on my porch the other day. I've been lurking this site and have learned so much. Doodlebug (female grey lop) has come out of her shell and broken out into her mischievous ways. I love naughty, spunky animals, though.

Anyways, she has a 2x2 NIC cage for night time just to sleep in. The rest of the day she spends in my room which is about 12ft x 25ft. I have the stairs, my closet and my bed blocked off from her so she cannot get into any more trouble than she already does. I've noticed though that she LOVES to sleep on my bed and I think it'd be great to be able to bond with her that way. But I don't want her *under* my bed. I've tried to let her openly use under the bed to romp and play but she stays under there for hours and make angry bunny noises and lunges at me when I try to remove her.

So, I need a creative idea to keep Doodle out from under the bed, but allow her to jump and lay *on* the bed. I've currently got a grid wall around them, but it's so inconvenient, takes up tons of space, and bunbun like to chew on the grids and make lots of noise when she does not get her way.

Any ideas would be appreciated!

 

[Suz]

Could you buy some plywood and cut it into strips to line along the bottom of the bed? Then maybe get a dustruffle to "pretty" it up

Good luck whatever the outcome!

 

[thatcrazybunny]

how much space is it from the floor to the bottom of the bed? i'm thinking just make an "I" blocker that blocks the head and the end and then goes down the middle of the bed (underneath of course) and get those shallow plastic bins and use use them for storage. or you can always make a base like this one

http://www.haikudesigns.com/bedroom1.htm

bunny proofing with style

 

[Christina]

Ohh, thanks for the ideas! I never would have thought of them.

 

[Suz]

Yeah! Make your bed look like a platform bed like in the picture. That will take care of the problem!

 

[Christina]

And it's nice and stylish too!

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We even used plywood to box around a couple of chairs in the family room.

 

[tamsin]

She's hiding under the bed because rabbits love tunnels and that's just like a big tunnel Tunnels make bunnies feel safe and she's probably spending the day there because rabbits usually sleep during most of the day inside their tunnels. Whilst you might think sleeping on a bed is the most comfy thing, rabbits generally prefer a flat surface (and move bedding out the way)!

The growling is probably hormones - female rabbits can get very protective of their homes and that can result in attacking hands entering it. Having her spayed should help decrease the hormones making her so territorial and stop the behaviour.

If you do go ahead block the bed then you need to provide somewhere else for her to hide/sleep like a tunnel or a box

 

[Christina]

Thanks for all the information! We're hoping to have her spayed very soon.

I have searched everywhere and I cannot find a good site with bunny sized anything! Can anyone recommend to me a site that sells bunny supplies such as huts?

 

[butsy]

butsy used to do the same thing !!! , eventually i just made her a huge cage

 

[Christina]

I plan on making a larger cage for her as well, haha.

 

[thatcrazybunny]

use NIC grids for the cage. also, you can take 3 of them and zip tie them into a triangle and put a towel or something over them and my bunny goes nutty over it lol

try this if you buy online:

http://www.rabbitmart.com/

 

[Christina]

Are there certain brand names I should avoid? Or just things I should avoid with rabbits, for example, nuts?

 

[MaryAnne]

Christina,

There are several good forums on this site with info for you. See Library: Bunny 101 at:

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_forum.php?id=17

Also have a look at the House Rabbit Society website at http://www.rabbit.org/

They have a lot of good info as well. One caveat. Some bunny people fight over breeding versus house buns, neuter vs non neuter etc. I try to stay out of that stuff. Read several different sides and draw your own conclusions, and do whats best for you and your bun.

Have fun! Bunnies are very special pets.

 

[Acacia-Berry]

Congrats on bunny!! I dislike my little nuisance under the bed as well, I NIC'd it off. There's just a NIC wall around my bed, to keep it from falling over during the countless tripping spells we do over it, I cable tied one to the top of the cube like I would be making a box but then jammed it in between the mattress and box spring. It keeps it steady!

 

[Acacia-Berry]

Then just get some old cardboard boxes from any store (FREE!!) and she can have her tunnel!!